


Essays on a Galaxy Far Far Away

by Redrikki



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Cults, Essays, Gen, Meta, Mind Control, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:00:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29843244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrikki/pseuds/Redrikki
Summary: Collection of meta and essays on the Star Wars universe.Chapter 1 - Are the Jedi a Cult?Chapter 2 - First Order & Jedi Order training. How similar is it?Chapter 3 - Jedi & First Order Recruitment and the Effects of Child SeparationChapter 4 - Mechanics and Ethics of the Jedi Mind TrickChapter 5 - Force Sensitive Jar Jar Binks
Comments: 80
Kudos: 24
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	1. Are the Jedi A Cult?

Are the Jedi a cult? Before we can answer that, we must first establish what a cult is. According to Merriam-Webster, a cult is great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work; the usually small group of people who practice such devotion; a system of religious beliefs or rituals; a religion regarded by others as unorthodox or suspicious. It's a word which tends to get used rather pejoratively, mostly because of the extreme levels of commitment required by adherents and the control over adherents enjoyed by cult leaders. In our world, there are cults which have become mainstream religions, cults of personality associated with entire countries and encouraged by their governments, and cults targeted _by_ governments. 

Within the GFFA, the Jedi Order in the PT era was a religious group consisting of members of all ages and various species living and working together in various temples throughout the galaxy with the majority living on Coruscant. Compared to the overall size of the Republic, their membership was quite small, with just a few hundred-thousand members. All members were Force Sensitive and recruited to study and use the Force from a very young age. Members were discouraged from forming bonds with those outside the Order and were not permitted to remain in contact with their birth families and instead were encouraged to consider the Order as their true family. The Order enjoyed a close relationship with the Galactic government and served as advisors to the Chancellor and Senate, peace keepers, diplomats, and, during the war, military officers. They were aided in their recruitment efforts by mandatory blood testing for midi-chlorians at medcenters throughout the Republic which were then handed over to the Jedi. Although they worked closely with the State, few everyday citizens had any interactions with them and they were viewed alternately as heroic, dangerous, magical, suspicious, kidnappers, and even not actually real. They were eventually slaughtered in the Jedi Purge at the end of the Clone Wars and re-framed by the Empire as traitors. 

Cults can vary widely in terms of the degree of control they exert over their members. The greater the degree of internal control, the higher the risk of physical or psychological harm to members. The [Advanced Bonewits’ Cult Danger Evaluation Frame](http://www.neopagan.net/ABCDEF.html) is a handy 18-factor frame work for identifying just how controlling, and thus how potentially dangerous, any cult-like group is. Each factor is evaluated on a sliding scale with 1 as low and 10 as high. Groups which score highly in five or more factors can be classified as potentially dangerous cults.

Here are the factors:

1\. **Internal Control** : Amount of internal political and social power exercised by leader(s) over members; lack of clearly defined organizational rights for members.

The Jedi score a solid 9 on this one. The Council had unilateral control over advancement, mission assignments, and punishments. Until Ahsoka, no Jedi had ever been tried by a non-Jedi judicial body. The Order also maintained their own secret prison at one point to contain those members they felt have gone bad, although it had long since fallen out of use by the Clone Wars. Members had no clear way of raising concerns and no clearly defined rights.

2\. **External Control** : Amount of external political and social influence desired or obtained; emphasis on directing members’ external political and social behavior.

Jedi score somewhere between 7 and 9 on this. Members were forbidden from forming outside attachments or contacting their families, and they were not allowed to participate in the political processes of their home worlds.

While the Jedi Order claimed to eschew political involvement, they maintained a pod in the Senate and met regularly with the Chancellor in an advisory capacity. When Chancellor Palpatine asked to spend time alone with a young Anakin in the _Obi-Wan & Anakin_ comic (2016), the Council agreed in order to maintain their friendly relationship and repeatedly attempt to used the friendship between Anakin and Palpatine to influence and spy on the Chancellor. They technically served the Senate, but regularly concealed information about secret deployments, intelligence about the Sith, etc. When the Chancellor attempted to exert more control over the Council by appointing Anakin Skywalker, the Council began to plot a coup against him even before they learned he was a Sith.

3\. **Wisdom/Knowledge Claimed by leader(s)** : amount of infallibility declared or implied about decisions or doctrinal/scriptural interpretations; number and degree of unverified and/or unverifiable credentials claimed.

Solid 9. Yoda was described more than once as the oldest and wisest among them. Characters are repeatedly reminded to trust in the Council. When Obi-Wan could not find a record of Kamino in the Jedi archives, the librarian claimed that if the Jedi didn't know about it, it didn't exist. 

4\. **Wisdom/Knowledge Credited to leader(s) by members** : amount of trust in decisions or doctrinal/scriptural interpretations made by leader(s); amount of hostility by members towards internal or external critics and/or towards verification efforts.

Solid 9. See above. In the Kanan comic (2015), young Caleb Dume is yelled at by a teacher for asking questions about the process by which Padawans are selected. In _The Phantom Menace_ , Obi-Wan indicated that Qui-Gon could be on the Council if he just stopped questioning them all the time. External criticisms were regularly dismissed as ignorance on the part of the critic. See the Bardotta 'kidnapping' scandal for details. 

5\. **Dogma** : Rigidity of reality concepts taught; amount of doctrinal inflexibility or “fundamentalism;” hostility towards relativism and situationalism.

Somewhere between 6 and 8. We hear individual Jedi privately express views other than those approved by the Council, but we also hear other Jedi expressing shock and horror at those ideas. Jedi like Qui-Gon who persisted in doing their own thing had trouble advancing within the Jedi hierarchy, and some, Like Syfo-Dyas, lost status for disagreeing with the Council. The Jedi ideals of maintaining internal peace and harmony helped to squash dissent and doctrinal disputes mostly by pretending they didn’t really exist.

6\. **Recruiting** : Emphasis put on attracting new members; amount of proselytizing; requirement for all members to bring in new ones.

8 and 9. The Jedi were intensively selective of the type of people they recruited. They only took children under the age of five who met the minimum standards of midi-cholorians. This greatly reduced the amount of people they were bringing in, but also meant that there was great emphasis placed on identifying such children and convincing their parents to give them to the Order. They had an in-universe reputation as kidnappers and were actually forbidden from visiting the planet of Bardotta thanks to their aggressive recruiting. On at least two separate instances they recruited children via ‘rescue’ without informing the children’s parents. See the Baby Ludi drama for details.

7\. **Front Groups** : Number of subsidiary groups using different names from that of main group, especially when connections are hidden.

1\. They don’t have any…that we know of. Just kidding. No front groups.

8\. **Wealth** : Amount of money and/or property desired or obtained by group; emphasis on members’ donations; economic lifestyle of leader(s) compared to ordinary members.

I’d put them around 5. Individual members didn’t get paid and weren’t supposed to accumulate possessions or wealth, and that included the leaders. That said, Council members had much larger apartments than the rank and file. The Jedi Order as a whole maintained several large and fancy temples throughout the galaxy including one massive and swanky one on Coruscant.

9\. **Sexual Manipulation of members by leader(s) of non-tantric groups** : amount of control exercised over sexuality of members in terms of sexual orientation, behavior, and/or choice of partners.

Idk 3-5? Jedi weren’t permitted to marry or ‘form attachments’ except in those weird old EU cases where certain (Council) members received special permission because their species was endangered or some shit. Casual sex was cool though, I guess, as long as members didn't fall in love. They were also not permitted to raise any resulting children.

10\. **Sexual Favoritism** : Advancement or preferential treatment dependent upon sexual activity with the leader(s) of non-tantric groups.

1\. The Jedi didn’t do this shit and that’s probably a good thing. The idea of people having to put out for Yoda kind of makes me sick.

11\. **Censorship** : Amount of control over members’ access to outside opinions on group, its doctrines or leader(s).

6-8. Younger members were literally not permitted to leave the temple or contact anyone outside, including their own families. Teenage members were only permitted to do so under the supervision of the Council or their masters. All education was handled in-house. According to _Darth Vader: Lord of the Sith_ comic issue 9 (2017), there was also a good bit of internal censorship where only certain members were permitted access to certain types of information about the Force and the Order.

12\. **Isolation** : Amount of effort to keep members from communicating with non-members, including family, friends and lovers.

10\. Jedi were removed from their families before their fifth birthday and forbidden to communicate with them ever again. In some cases, they were even given new names to further distance them from their birth families. They were not permitted to marry. Having outside friends was treated as suspect.

13. **Dropout Control** : Intensity of efforts directed at preventing or returning dropouts.

9-10. Prior to the Clone Wars, only 20 masters had ever left. They were referred to as the Lost 20 or the Lost Ones. Their statues were on display in the archives as, idk, a memorial? Warning? About 500 years before the PT era, the Order maintained a secret prison for those Jedi which they felt had lost their way. No word on what exactly ‘losing their way’ meant or on how many Jedi were kept there over the years. It had ceased to be use for some time before the Clone Wars.

During the PT era, Jedi who wished to leave were not stopped. Dooku was allowed to leave peacefully, as was Ahsoka. On the other hand, neither were provided with any sort of financial assistance and they cut off from all their friends within the Order. This was less of an issue for Dooku who was already collaborating with the Sith and had a tittle waiting for him back on his home planet, but Ahsoka was basically screwed. The fact that members are not allowed to accumulate wealth or cultivate friendships outside the Order can make the prospect of leaving both incredibly difficult and dangerous, even if the Order is not actively preventing members from leaving. Furthermore, the way those who left were framed could also discourage others from following in their footsteps. In an incomplete and unaired _Star Wars: The Clone Wars_ arc "Crystal Crisis on Utapau", Obi-Wan characterized Ahsoka's decision to leave as selfish.

14\. **Violence** : Amount of approval when used by or for the group, its doctrines or leader(s).

8-10. All members were combat trained since pretty much minute one and were regularly deployed on missions which involved combat. They were technically serving the Republic, but most of their missions were dictated by the Council rather than directly by the Senate or other civilian body. Very little violence was directed at Order members by their superiors. That said, young members were often placed in life threatening situations as tests. See the ice caves of Illum or the temple on Lothal for details. Based on the _Kanan_ comic (2015) and (2016) bullying was rampant among younglings with little done about it by their instructors. 

15\. **Paranoia** : Amount of fear concerning real or imagined enemies; exaggeration of perceived power of opponents; prevalence of conspiracy theories.

6-8. The PT-era Jedi never shut up about the Dark Side and were constantly on alert for it within their own members. During the Clone Wars, they become increasingly (and justifiably) worried about the Separatists and the Sith. While deeply afraid of the power of the Dark Side, they tended to underestimate the skills and intelligence of actual Dark Side users.

16\. **Grimness** : Amount of disapproval concerning jokes about the group, its doctrines or its leader(s).

2-4. While there were a few very serious Jedi, most fell somewhere between whimsical and sassmasters.

17\. **Surrender of Will** : Amount of emphasis on members not having to be responsible for personal decisions; degree of individual disempowerment created by the group, its doctrines or its leader(s).

8-10. Surrender to the will of the Force. Trust in the Council. Trust your Master. Seriously, watch the Clone Wars. The sheer number of times Anakin and/or Ahsoka are told to turn off their brain and do as instructed is mind boggling. Also, Jedi as a whole practice literal mind control.

18\. **Hypocrisy** : amount of approval for actions which the group officially considers immoral or unethical, when done by or for the group, its doctrines or leader(s); willingness to violate the group’s declared principles for political, psychological, social, economic, military, or other gain.

7-9. See the entirety of the Clone Wars for details, but some examples include: maintaining a slave army despite believing slavery is a tool of the Sith; making deals with known slavers despite believing slavery is a tool of the Sith; handing over the Zillo beast to be experimented upon and killed despite believing in the sanctity of all life.

The International Cult Studies Association lists some additional risk factors including: excessive use of mind altering practices such as meditation; elitism; us-vs-them mentality towards external enemies; and attempts by the leadership to induce feelings of guilt or shame in members. Jedi exhibit all of these traits to varying degrees.

In short, the Jedi are a cult, and a potentially harmful one at that. Agree? Disagree? Want to clarify or refute any of my points? Is it just me, or are there a bunch of cults in the Star Wars universe?


	2. An Orderly Upbringing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> According to Disney, the First Order based their trooper training in part on the Jedi Order. Here's an analysis of the similarities and differences between the two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted on my [dream width](https://redrikki.dreamwidth.org/14150.html) on February 10, 2019. Special thanks to lj-writes who made some interesting points in the comments that I have used to improve this essay from the original.

According to the Disney tie-in material, the First Order's recruitment and training program was based on the Jedi recruitment and training program by its creator, Brendo Hux. There's a lot to unpack there, but let's start with the basics. How are the training programs of the Jedi Order and the First Order similar and how did they differ? What do those similarities and differences say about them as institutions?

**_Similarities_ **

1\. **Intent**

The Jedi Order and First Order were raising kids in preparation for combat. Note that I did not say they were raising child soldiers. Howtofightwrite over on tumblr has a couple of [interesting posts](https://howtofightwrite.tumblr.com/post/154487886967/what-would-be-some-behavioralpsychological#notes) on the difference. It basically boils down to this: child soldiers are disposable canon fodder and children raised for combat are a serious investment. The goal is to create highly tried fighters who are utterly dedicated to the cause. The Jedi Order and the First Order are imparting not just combat skills, they're also building intense loyalty. 

2\. **Recruitment Age**

Jedi and First Order 'recruits' were children between the ages of 1 and 5 years old. Children at those ages are mobile, capable of understanding (some) words, and old enough to be safely weaned. The older ones may even be potty trained. They are unlikely to remember anything about their family by the time they hit adulthood and are thus unlikely to have any conflicting loyalties or anything to compare the relative healthiness of their upbringing to.

3\. **Isolation**

Both groups allowed their children no contact with the outside world. Jedi younglings didn't leave the Temple until their gathering, at which point they simply went to another, secret temple. As Padawans, they were allowed to leave the Temple and interact with the public, but only under the direct supervision of their master. First Order cadets spent their entire lives on First Order installations and ships. Finn is 20 before he ever interacts with a civilian. For both groups, isolation keeps recruits from developing conflicting loyalties or being exposed to outside ideas.

4\. **Training and Education**

Both organizations start combat training early in order to normalize the mechanics of violence long before they actually put their kids in situations where they would ever have to hurt someone. Training is rigorous, if age appropriate. For very young kids, it's probably framed as a game. Recruits are continuously evaluated on their performances. You can't combat train all the time, so recruits are probably in class a lot too. Their educations are tailored towards the tasks their respective Orders want them to perform. Jedi learn about diplomatic protocol, Republic law, cultures, history, astronomy, etc. First Order troops probably learn history, tactics, and practical skills like gun maintenance. In both groups, children who perform well in certain areas are funneled into special tracks which determine their jobs as adults.

5\. **Care and Feeding**

Children in the Jedi Order and First Order receive good, healthy food and excellent medical care. They are, after all, an investment in the future of their organization. They are encouraged to maintain their body in peak physical condition. They are unlikely to be subject to physical abuse as that would interfere with their future performance. On the other hand, emotional abuse and bullying are probably a bit part of life in both groups.

6\. **Submission to a Higher Authority**

Both groups stress the importance of duty and unthinking obedience to authority. Jedi must trust in the will of the Force and the wisdom of the Council. First Order troopers must obey their officers and Supreme Leader without question.

7\. **Discouraging Emotional Attachment**

Jedi younglings are taught to fear attachments as the path to the Dark Side. First Order troopers discouraged from forming friendships. In the tie-in novel Before the Awakening, Finn is repeatedly chastised for looking out for his friend Slips when the unit might be better off without his dead weight. 

**_Differences_ **

1\. **Selectivity**

The Jedi are creating an elite unit made up of uniquely talented individuals. Recruits must have a baseline midi-clorian count to be considered for recruitment. Jedi younglings are constantly evaluated to determine if they are even suited for the combat track and are funneled into other corps if it is determined that they aren't. The First Order will take whichever human children are handy. Rather than filter out unsuitable candidates like Finn's friend Slips, they are allowed to fail upward until they get themselves killed. 

2\. **Apprenticeships**

Jedi padawans become apprenticed to senior Jedi as part of their training. First Order soldiers don't get that sort of one-on-one mentorship. This ties into the selectivity thing. As [lj-writes](https://lj-writes.dreamwidth.org) put it in the comments of my original post, "To make a rather objectifying comparison, the Jedi were treated as handcrafted items, each made by an actual Master, while the Stormtrooper program followed the template of factory production, if of an excellent quality (yuck)."

3\. **Age at Which They See Combat**

Jedi padawans began their apprenticeship between the ages of 9 and 14. Before the Clone Wars, most padawans weren't in combat situations, but were doing things which were potentially dangerous including law enforcement and pirate-chasing. During the Clone Wars, children as young as 14 were involved in active combat missions. Assuming Finn is anything to go by, First Order stormtroopers were in their late teens or early twenties before they were sent to fight. 

4\. **Living Arrangements**

Based on what we see in the cartoons, Jedi padawans and knights have their own bedrooms. Based on the _Before the Awakening_ novel, First Order troopers sleep barracks' style. Although there's not concrete proof, I head canon that Jedi younglings sleep barracks style, mostly for the ease of their adult caregivers, and being assigned one's own room is a major right of passage.

5\. **Chores**

According to _The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force_ (2010), Jedi younglings were responsible for maintaining their wardrobe and tidying up their bed, but not much else. First Order cadets were assigned tasks like janitorial work, KP, and the like. 

6\. **Exposure to Propoganda**

Let's be real, propaganda is built in to any education system. I have no doubt that Jedi younglings were consistently exposed to education which posited the Jedi as flawless heroes and the Republic and its policies as just and good, but the First Order's propaganda was way more in-your-face. According to the tie-in novel _Before the Awakening_ , First Order recruits were regularly made to watch lectures about the glory of the First Order and the evil decadence of the new Republic.

7\. Lack of Privacy

Based on _Before the Awakening_ , First Order cadets are monitored constantly. Their vitals are monitored by their trainers, they are under constant video surveillance, and I would not be surprised if members are encouraged to spy on each other. Jedi can sense each other's emotional states, but it seems relatively easy for individual Jedi to say, conceal a secret marriage, in a way a First Order stormtrooper probably couldn't. 

8\. **Stance on Diversity**

The Jedi Order wavers on the knife's edge between embracing and rejection diversity. They have members from multiple species and allow them to express their cultural identities through traditional headdresses and facial tattoos, but are suspect of anyone who seems overly attached to their home world and birth culture. Members can be twi'lik, togruta, human, etc., but they must be Jedi first. By contrast, the First Order vehemently rejects diversity and individuality in favor of complete conformity. They only accept humans. Recruits are utterly stripped of their cultural identity right down to their names. They are all made to wear identical, face-concealing uniforms which make them visually indistinguishable. One of their biggest complaints about the new Republic is how their diversity has made them weak.

9\. **Core Values**

The Jedi Order's core values include harmony, wisdom, peace, and compassion. They don't always live up to those values, but they try to act with them in mind at the very least. The First Order doesn't really seem to have core values beyond the acquisition of power and control. They certainly act like it.

10\. **Dehumanization**

The First Order actively de-humanize their troops by assigning them alpha-numerics rather than proper names and putting them in face and form concealing equipment. If the rest of their training is based on the Jedi Order, this is a deliberate replication of the Clone Troopers from the Clone War. Like the Clones, the First Order Troopers are viewed by their creators as interchangeable, disposable cannon fodder.

Did any miss anything? What do you think it says about the Jedi Order that Hux thought their childrearing practices were the perfect template for raising elite, intensely loyal soldiers?


	3. Jedi & First Order Recruitment and the Effects of Child Separation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jedi & First Order Recruitment and the Effects of Child Separation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted on my dreamwidth on February 17, 2019.

A startling number of characters within the GFFA lost or were separated from their parents at such a young age including Anakin, Jyn, Rey, Ezra, not to mention every single Jedi and First Order trooper. If there's one thing scientists have learned from studying kids evacuated during the Blitz, Australian Aboriginal children sent to government schools, Romanian orphans, and others it is this: separating young children from their parents is bad. From the moment of their birth, children bond with their caregivers. These bonds are crucial for helping the child develop intellectually, organize perceptions, think logically, develop a conscience, become self-reliant, develop coping mechanisms (for stress, frustration, fear, and worry), and form healthy and intimate relationships. Caregivers help mediate the child's relationship with the big, scary, and confusing world in a way that gives the child a sense of safety. Separating the child from the parent causes the child intense psychological and physiological stress. As stress hormones flood the child's brain, they can start killing off dendrites, the little branches in brain cells that transmit messages, or even neurons. In young children, this can cause long-term damage, both psychologically and to the physical structure of the brain. Some documented long-term effects include cognitive impairment, trust issues, anomalous flight-or-flight responses, increased aggression, substance abuse, anxiety, depression, C-PTSD, diabetes, and heart disease. 

It's hard to tell just how young the Jedi Order and First Order recruits are. Thanks to TPM, we know that nine is too old for the Jedi. In the Clone Wars cartoons, we learn that potential candidates are identified young, but are allowed to remain with their parents for at least a certain time, possibly until they are weaned or maybe even potty trained. For the sake of argument, let's say Jedi are recruited between the ages of 1 and 5. The First Order likely also takes its kids in this age range. The image of young Finn in TFA is of a toddler, not an infant and, really what army wants to spend time changing diapers. Based on real-world research, what would be the effects of taking kids at that age?

A child between the ages of 1 and 3 will likely have no clear memory of either their parents or the trauma, but will still suffer as a result of the loss. In the short term, they are likely to lose recently acquired skills, including language skills and potty training, and have diminished awareness of both internal and external stimuli. Long term, there are serious effects on the brain. Studies of children in Romanian orphanages found that children separated in their first two year had less brain matter, less brain activity, and lower IQs than other children their age. They also had messed up flight or fight responses, showing few physical signs of stress in situations which would terrify most people. Other long term effects include control issues, anger issues, subtle language problems, unstable identities, a general lack of self-awareness, and growing into fairly rigid and inflexible adults. 

Older children between the ages of 3 and 6 have a different set of issues. They may be old enough to remember both their parents and the trauma of separation. Developmentally, they are at the age where they are likely to see the separation as their fault and may develop self-esteem problems as a result. In the short term, they may indiscriminately attach themselves to adults and display extreme thinking about the 'good' and 'bad' traits in themselves or others. Long term, they may suffer from low self-esteem, anxiety, anger issues, trust issues, depression, and even heart disease.

Tween-aged children like Anakin will, again, likely have trouble in school and often will feel distanced from their peers who can't understand the their loss. This certainly held true for Anakin who was surrounded by people who had no memory of their parents despite having been separated from them and, in fact, shamed him for still feeling attached to her. 

It's unlikely that the writers had any clue about the effects of childhood separation when they came up with the Jedi Order or First Order recruitment practices, but we do see signs of this within the narrative. The Jedi seem weirdly desensitized to danger and have trouble forming or maintaining healthy relationships. They are all fairly rigid and exhibit strong black-and-white thinking, especially as it relates to the Force. According to the Ahsoka novel, she was separated from her parents around the age of 3 or 4 and instantly glomped on to Plo Koon as a result. In TFA, we see Finn suffering from anxiety and panic attacks while Rey seems frozen at the age where she lost her parents right down to her hair style.

Questions? Comments? Are there any other signs I missed? How do you think it effects the Jedi Order and First Order as institutions?  
[(source)](https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-separating-children-psychology-20180620-story.html), [ (source)](https://practicenotes.org/vol2_no4/effects_of_separation_and_attachment.htm),  (source), [(source)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/what-separation-from-parents-does-to-children-the-effect-is-catastrophic/2018/06/18/c00c30ec-732c-11e8-805c-4b67019fcfe4_story.html?noredirect=on).


	4. Mechanics and Ethics of the Jedi Mind Trick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How does the Jedi mind trick even work and should they be doing it?

"These are not the droids you're looking for." The line is iconic. The power behind it is pretty iconic too, but what is the Jedi mind trick? How does it work and why doesn't it always?

The Force flows through and from all living things, connecting them together. According to Obi-Wan in ANH, the Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded. Force sensitives can use the Force to sense the emotions those physically and emotionally close to them. Some of them can even use it to exchange words with other Force sensitives. They can also use it to tame, make friends with, or otherwise control different animals. Clearly, the Jedi mind trick is closely related to these other abilities. In fact, it's basically the ability as animal taming applied to sentients. From the way victims parrot the exact words of the person mind tricking them, it seems like a mind trick involves implanting a thought directly into someone's mind.

Obi-Wan makes it look easy, but it's a hard trick to pull off. We see a number of younger or otherwise untrained Force users (Ahsoka, Ezra, Rey) struggling with the mind trick. Even fully trained Force users can have trouble with certain individuals. The prison guards in TCW episode "The Academy" are able to resist. Poggle the Lesser is resistant to Anakin's mind trick interrogation in "Brain Invaders" until he gets Force choked. Cade Bane resists too, even under pressure from multiple Jedi, in "Children of the Force." When Kanan attempts to mind trick Governor Pryce in Rebels "Through Imperial Eyes," she punches him in the face. There are at least two species who physically can't be mind tricked at all: hutts and toydarians.

What do all of these resisters have in common? From a Doylist perspective, none of them can be mind tricked because otherwise the plot would be over too quick, but what's the in-universe reason? In Rebels, Kanan mentions that he can't mind trick Ezra. As someone already sensitive to the Force, you'd think he'd be easier to mind trick if not for one key thing. Ezra has training to sense the Force and be aware of his own thoughts and emotions. In all the specific examples mentioned above, the targets are aware that a Force user is going to try to mess with their heads. They are on the look out for incongruous thoughts and are thus able to resist. Presumably, there's something about the minds of hutts and toydarians which make them uniquely good at spotting intrusive thoughts.

So what makes someone susceptible to the mind trick? Weak-mindedness? Mind tricks fail when the victim is expecting it. It fails when they are aware of the boundaries of their own minds. In one instance in Rebels, it fails because a guard knows he shouldn't be taking orders from someone dressed as a cadet. Context seems to matter. A person is more likely to give in to the mind trick if it's something reasonable based on their situation. Obi-Wan in ANH is able to convince a pair of bored guards to not care about the boring job they probably already don't care about. In "The Gungan General," he's able to convince a pirate he'd rather go get drunk than watch prisoners. Convincing someone who is attempting to resist requires more effort. Obi-Wan, Mace, and Anakin are visibly strained as they attempt to force Cad Bane to reveal the location of the kidnapped children in "Children of the Force." Bane, meanwhile, acts like what they're doing is causing him intense, physical pain. Kanan and Rey react the same way when being compelled to talk with the Force.

Which leads me to the ethics of the whole thing. We see Jedi use mind tricks throughout the series for a number of reasons, some mission-critical and some not. In a lot of examples, the trick is used to distract guards or get past check points like the iconic not-the-droids example or several of the other instances mentioned earlier. Most of the time Kanan uses it, he's doing it for that purpose. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Mace use it for interrogation purposes at least twice in TCW. With Cade Bane, it seems to cause him physical pain and, despite eventually revealing information, that information leads the Jedi into a trap. Over all, the scene is framed in much the same way as Kylo Ren's interrogations of Poe and Rey, although in that case he's pulling the information directly out of his victims' heads rather than compelling them to speak. 

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon both have a tendency to use mind tricks for things in which are, let us say, not entirely mission critical. In TPM, Qui-Gon mind tricks the Gungan council into giving them a vehicle and allowing them to leave with Jar-Jar and then later attempts to mind trick a junk dealer into accepting Republic Credits for a part. In both cases, it backfires. The Gungans give them a vehicle which is defective and breaks down in a crucial moment that nearly gets them killed. As a toydarian, Watto can not be mind tricked and he ends up pissed off and less cooperative as a result. In AotC, Obi-Wan casually mind tricks a guy who was annoying him in order to make him go away. Considering that the Jedi believe that mind tricks only work on the weak minded, Qui-Gon using it on the Gungan Council seems extremely disrespectful and serves to highlight just how high handed and arrogant the PT Jedi are. Ditto Obi-Wan's casual abuse of power on a random bar patron.

How do you think it works? Am I right or am I crazy? Would you be able to resist a mind trick? Based on the way we see the Jedi use it, do you think it's ethical?


	5. Force Sensitive Jar Jar Binks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is Jar Jar Force sensitive? All signs point to yes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted on my [dreamwidth](https://redrikki.dreamwidth.org/5630.html) on December 16, 2018.

Jar Jar Binks, secret Sith lord, has long been a joke on the internet. As theories go, it's about as dumb as it sounds, but it might not be that far from the truth. He's not plotting the destruction of the galaxy, but Jar Jar is almost certainly a Force sensitive. What makes me say that? Brace yourselves, kids, it's meta time.

Force sensitivity is a big deal in the galaxy far, far away. The Force flows from and through every living thing. Based on what we've seen, Force sensitives, even untrained ones, have a wide range of abilities. In the films and cartoons, we're shown untrained Force sensitives who can: be drawn to people who will be important to them (Anakin, Ezra); have prophetic dreams and visions (Anakin, Rey); sense danger (Luke, Leia, Ezra); sense the emotions and intentions of others (Ezra, Baby Pepe, Finn); sense shatterpoints (Anakin, Luke, Rey); and have insanely good luck. 

Jar Jar may be clumsy, but he has insanely good luck. In fact, nearly every single instance of clumsiness as seen in the films and cartoons actually turns out to be very good luck for him and those around him. Tripping up Qui-Gon in the woods saves both their lives and kicks off a whole series of events leading to the liberation of Naboo. Accidentally throwing his snack at Anakin's racing rival ends up with the gang getting an invite to Anakin's house. During the Battle of Naboo, Jar Jar's seemingly mindless flailing results in massive destruction for the opposing army. Sounds a lot like Anakin accidentally crashing into the droid control ship and accidentally blowing it up, doesn't it? In the Clone Wars episode "Bombad Jedi," Jar Jar's bumbling with the magnetic crane destroys the droids sent to kill him. In "The Gungan General," Jar Jar's inability to buckle his seatbelt saves his life when the ship is shot down. 

Trained Force sensitives can use the force to connect with other living things. Anakin uses it to tame his beast in the arena in AotC. Obi-Wan and Anakin both use it repeatedly to gain mounts in the Clone Wars cartoons. Ezra is especially good at it in Rebels. Jar Jar seems to have the same ability. In "Bombad Jedi" he makes friends with a random aquatic monster which saves his life and helps him save the day. In "The Gungan General," he's the one to notice the creatures' reaction to the geysers and use it to predict their eruptions. He's also able to tame the creatures to be used as mounts for their attack on the pirate fortress. 

And, for my final bit of proof, during the mission to Bardotta in the "Disappeared I & II," the Frangawl cultist who are kidnapping some of the planet's most powerful Force-sensitives in order to extract their Living Force attempt to do the same thing to Jar Jar. 

Despite being around a lot of Jedi, none of them seemed to notice his sensitivity to the Force. That might seem like a strike against, but not really. Qui-Gon failed to notice anything interesting about Anakin until Anakin mentioned he was the only human who could pod race. Darth Vader never noticed that Leia was Force-sensitive and he only noticed that Luke was because he was present when Luke was actively using the Force. Using the Force is an active thing requiring intent. Being sensitive to the Force is like having a really acute sense of hearing. A sensitive will get more information about the world around them than the average person, but there's no way for anyone else to tell unless they mention it. 

This ties into my final reason for thinking Jar Jar is Force sensitive: it fits the meta narrative surrounding his character and the theme of the film in which he appears. Jar Jar isn't just the annoying comic relief character, he's a living example of the moral of the movie. In TPM, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan dismiss him as a pathetic being and bully and drag him around like a piece of baggage. Only Padme takes the time to listen to him and take him seriously and it literally saves the day. Qui-Gon mindtricks the Gungan leaders into helping him and almost gets eaten by giant fish for his troubles. Padme kneels in the swamp before them, humbly asking for their help and saves her planet. The importance of listening to the powerless and treating them with respect as opposed to arrogance is intended viewer take away from Jar Jar's character and, instead, most viewers regard him with the same annoyance and disdain as the Jedi. The pattern continues in every one of Jar Jar's cartoon appearances. Hardly anyone takes him seriously at first, he saves the day directly as a result of acting like a buffoon, and his contribution is largely dismissed. Having him secretly be just as powerful as the celebrated Jedi heroes who dismiss him would certainly fit the role he usually plays in the story.

Agree? Disagree? Am I crazy? Think Jar Jar is the most annoying character ever? Let's discuss.


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